Harvesting economics and strategies using centrifugation for cost effective separation of microalgae cells for biodiesel applications

► A new strategy for minimizing microalgal harvesting costs was developed. ► Lower harvesting efficiencies with higher flow rates were more cost effective. ► Centrifugation can potentially be a primary harvesting technique. ► Energy consumption and costs for various algal densities and lipids are provided. Inefficient or energy-intensive microalgal harvesting strategies for biodiesel production have been a major setback in the microalgae industry. Harvesting by centrifugation is generally characterized by high capture efficiency (>90%) under low flow rates and high energy consumption. However, results from the present study demonstrated that by increasing the flow rates (>1L/min), the lower capture efficiencies (